The last (plastic) straw? Some users don't like SF's ban...

1of3Reusable stainless steel bent straws in a variety of colors are seen at the Steelys Drinkware warehouse in San Francisco. Besides banning plastic straws, San Francisco now bars restaurants from automatically including straws and other single-use accessories like condiment packages in dine-in, take-out or delivery orders.Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

2of3Straws made of glass, acrylic, silicone, bamboo, steel, aluminum and paper, which are either reusable or compostable, are seen at the Steelys Drinkware warehouse on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 in San Francisco, Calif.Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

3of3John Borg, Steelys Drinkware founder and CEO, holds reusable stainless steel straws and a cleaning brush at his company’s warehouse in San Francisco. The company has sold reusable straws for eight years and is seeing business boom.Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

San Franciscans have had their last straw — plastic straw, anyway.

On July 1, a city ordinance took effect banning the sale and distribution of plastic straws and other plastic dining items, forcing restaurants to turn to biodegradable alternatives such as paper, wood, wheat or bamboo.

It’s an adjustment that isn’t going down easily for some drinkers.

“Paper straws are mushy within 15 minutes,” said Bay Area event planner Karen Zachary. Guests at her clients’ events won’t even take the paper straws when given the option, she said; instead they drink their beverage without one.

The new rule goes a step further than the statewide “straws upon request” law that bars dine-in restaurants from providing single-use plastic straws unless a customer asks for one. San Francisco’s ordinance also bans companies from automatically including single-use accessories — lids, condiment packages, utensils and napkins as well as straws — in dine-in, take-out or delivery orders.

“It’s definitely more expensive,” said Benny Han, owner of Black Sugar Boba in the Tenderloin, which is currently using paper straws. He said customers have asked for multiple straws due to breakage. “We are still figuring out our best option.”

Alameda, Berkeley and Oakland also have enacted plastic straw bans in recent years.

Even businesses that appreciate the ban’s higher purpose are feeling some pain.

“It’s a big jump in price,” said Andrew Barnett, owner of Linea Caffe in the Mission District. “But I feel that, for helping the environment, it is well worth the investment.”

Barnett said each paper straw costs 2.5 cents more than the compostable plastic straws his cafe was using three months ago. San Francisco’s ban includes compostable bioplastics because they’re not completely biodegradable.

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed the ban in July 2018, and Debbie Raphael, director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, noted that businesses were given a year to prepare.

“Time and time again, we have seen the marketplace respond to San Francisco policy,” she said. “When local government sends signals to the market, the market will adjust and adapt. We saw it with the styrofoam ban, the plastic bag ban, and we’re seeing it now with plastic straws.”

Advocates for the disabled community aren’t happy with the policy. Jessica Lehman, executive director at Senior and Disability Action, said that plastic straws are by far the best option for holding up in hot and cold drinks, bending, and not hurting the user if bitten down on.

Charles Sheehan, spokesman for the city’s Environment Department, said people with disabilities or a medical need should be able to request a plastic straw and that the department will continue its outreach to restaurants to make sure they understand that. Linea Caffe, for example, has ordered plastic straws to make available for customers with disabilities.

Still, Lehman worries that most restaurants won’t make the effort to purchase extra plastic straws — not to mention that it may be difficult for those with language and speech barriers to make those requests in the first place.

For makers and distributors of nonplastic straws, the ban is a boon. A spokeswoman for Hay! Straws, a San Francisco company that makes wheat-based (albeit nonedible) straws, said restaurants were requesting deliveries in the days leading up to the ban.

Founder and CEO John Borg says Steelys Drinkware has seen “a massive spike in sales” since the ban took effect.

Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

Steelys Drinkware, in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood, has sold reusable straws for about eight years. “But as we’ve seen a lot of progress on the policy front, there has been a massive spike in sales,” said John Borg, the company’s founder.

Stainless steel straws also have started popping up in bubble tea stores. Identitea and Boba Guys sell the straws to their customers for $5, and each comes with its own straw cleaner. The hope is that customers will bring their straw with them when they buy their next boba drink.

Jimmy Lyons, founder of eco-friendly food packaging company Eco-pliant in San Francisco, said restaurants like plastic because it is so cheap. But as alternative straw options become more widely used, costs could fall. Even in the past couple of years, new suppliers have entered the market with higher quality products and more affordable prices, Lyons said.

“There’s still a lot of innovation to do in the industry, especially in a society that has been so dependent on plastic,” he said.

But paper straws, a common alternative, are not to everyone’s liking. Some are strong enough to last for hours, some are flimsy and break apart easily, and some leave a paper aftertaste.

“That paper straw you now have to use will crumble before you even get to enjoy (your drink),” said Dominic Maxwell of San Francisco, who noted that when a drink costs $4 or $5, quality matters. “Then, you’re stuck ... with the taste of mushy paper in your mouth.”

Carlos Ramirez, 16, puts a straw in his Big Gulp soda bought at a 7-11 in San Francisco in February — five months before the city’s ban on plastic straws took effect.

“It is without a question that the plastic straw ban is an overregulation,” said San Francisco Republican Party acting Chairwoman Nicole Garay. “It is important to take care of the world around us, (but) businesses should independently decide to avoid using plastic straws and find more sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics, rather than having the government force them.”

Jackie Nuñez, program manager for the Plastic Pollution Coalition, views it as odd that stores may serve drinks with paper straws inside plastic cups with plastic lids. Even so, she thinks it’s a good start.

“The beauty about the straw is that it is a gateway issue,” she said. “You can’t talk about straws without addressing the dangers of all single-use plastics.”

Elena Shao is a reporting intern in The Chronicle’s business department. She is also a political science student at Stanford University, where she is studying international relations and cybersecurity and writing for her campus paper. She is originally from Lawrenceville, Georgia.